Attorney for Chavis Carter’s Mom Fighting For Answers

Benjamin Irwin, the attorney for Teresa Carter, mother of Chavis Carter, joined Roland Martin this morning on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. Chavis Carter is the 21-year-old man who police claim committed suicide in the back of a police car while he was handcuffed behind his back.

The police have starkly defended this incident and even created a video to demonstrate how Chavis Carter could have committed the act. However, Irwin believes there's little credibility to the video.

Pointing out there could have been many edits and outtakes of the demonstration video before it was finally released, he said, "how many times did they try to do this, what other people did they try to use to do this with, this is not any easy feat by any stretch of the imagination."

Also, this week a state autopsy was released that confirmed the police's claim and also a toxicology report revealed that Carter had a mixture of drugs in his system including, marijuana, anxiety medication, a pain killer, and methamphetamines.

Despite this report, Irwin explains Carter's family is still searching for answers and wants to know what happened, he said the family is trying to put "pieces of a story together that doesn't make sense."

Irwin also defends the drugs found in Carter's system, saying the audio and video evidence shows that Carter was coherent during the incident. Alluding to the fact that the drugs found in his system should not be considered when evaluating the case.

Saying, "this was a young man who was able to spell his name accurately, answer questions, he was challenging questions…this was a man who seemed very self-aware of his environment."

According to Irwin, the family is exploring the option of a private autopsy but points out "certain pieces of this we have to tread delicately with" to protect the privacy of the family.

Irwin says the FBI is monitoring the investigation of the Jonesboro police but he asserts, "they are not calling me and keeping me up to date and I pretty much understand why."

Tonight there will be a prayer vigil in Jonesboro, Arkansas with Reverend Jesse Jackson and Chavis Carter's family who are standing behind their belief that Chavis Carter did not commit suicide.